Murch



(No Modem" L. W. MURCH.

METHOD OF CUTTING OR PREPARING- WOOD FOR ORNAMENTAL AND DECORATIVE PURPOSES.

No. 451,834. PatentedMay 5, 1891.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEVIS \V. MURCH, OF MEDORA, NORTH DAKOTA.

METHOD OF CUTTING OR PREPARING WOOD FOR ORNAMENTAL AND DECORATIVE PURPOSES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 451,834, dated May 5, 1891. App cati n filed September 24,1890. Serial No. 365,957. (No mode.)

To (LZZ whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, LEWIS WASHINGTON MUROH, of Medora, in the county of Billings and State of North Dakota, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Methods of Cutting or Preparing lVood for Ornamental and Decorative Purposes, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention has for its object the sawing or otherwise cutting and preparing of wood from the trunks of trees or logs in the rough and limbs of trees into boards or panels suitable for Various ornamental and decorative purposes, including house-finishing work,ornamental work in banks, churches, and other public buildings, or for passenger-coaches, street-cars, vessels cabins, musical instruments, uudertakers caskets, cabinet-work,

bric-a-brac, tiling, wainscoting, ceiling, and various other ornamental and useful purposes.

The invention therefore consists in cutting or sawing a log or limb having the bark thereon, as in its natural state, obliquely into blocks or pieces, the bark remaining around the periphery of each block or piece, and finally removing the bark from the blocks in the operation of shaping, as will be hereinafter described and claimed.

Boards, blocks, or panel-pieces made from timber out obliquely across the grain, as above described, present a highly-ornamental appearance with the heart of the wood-in or near the center, and their surfaces when finished will be much more beautiful than when otherwise cut transversely from timber, and each block, while drying being encircled by a ring of bark, will be bound thereby and prevented from splitting or cracking radially. Moreover, the logs do not have to be slabbed or barked previous to their being reduced to blocks or pieces, as is ordinarily done, but the bark is removed by the shaping dies or cutters, thus dispensing with one step, and at the same time obtaining the great advantage of retaining the bark until the very last stage of the method. Their surfaces, too, will be susceptible of a much higher polish, and a perfectly smooth surface is obtained atacheaper rate than when the boards, blocks, or panelpieces are produced by sawing parallel with the grain, as when out parallel with the grain alarge percentage of the boards have crossgrained places in them, which makes the smoothing of their surfaces both difficult and costly. By cutting the timber too obliquely across the grain checking or cracking at the ends of the boards or panel-pieces is enti rely done away with, thus saving much valuable lumber, as the grain passes, as it were, around the ends of the board in such manner as to effectually hold it together, and the grain of the board shrinks both on the ends and sides together toward the center.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 represents a longitudinal view of an undressed log, tree-trunk, or limb intersected by dotted lines indicating cuts made oblique to the grain of the wood to form the required boards or panel-pieces. Fig. 2 represents upon a larger scale a face view of a board or panel-piece as thus cut from said timber, also by dotted lines the cuts that are subsequently made to dress the board or panel-piece into shape; and Fig. 3 is a face view of aseries of such obliquely-cut and subsequently-shaped panel-pieces arranged and grouped together to formapiece of Wainscoting, ceiling, or floor.

A in Fig. 1 indicates the rough log, tree, or limb, and b b the directions of the saw-lines or other cuts oblique to the grain of the wood necessary to produce the approximately elliptical-shaped boards or panel-pieces having the heart of the Wood in the center, and one of which B is shown in Fig.2. The whole log or limb may be similarly cut up throughout its length or greater part thereof, and each of the boards or panel-pieces B is afterward cut or dressed in reverse angular'directions at its edges on opposite sides, as indicated by the lines o d, and by parallel straight cuts 6 e at its ends, thereby forming a finished panelpiece or block B, the profile of which presents obtuse angles on its opposite sides, united by straight lines or chords at its ends. It will be seen that the cuts on the lines referred to remove the bark as well as shape the blocks, the bark remaining on the blocks until this the final treatment of them prior to polishing.

Even if the logs themselves should be dried prior to being sliced or sawed obliquely, the encircling bands of bark will prevent warping by their binding action and will protect the blocks or pieces,which are very thin, from mechanical injuries. This shape and finish of the panel-pieces or blocks gives a very secure tie or bond of Wedge-like character to the panel-pieces or blocks,neoessarilybreaking joint with one another midway of their length when grouped together, as shown in Fig. 3, and, if desired, bound by a molding or borderf, to be usedin a room for Wainscoting or ceiling. Such panels or panel-pieces B in being cut from the timber diagonally to the grain will possess superior beauty in always exposing the heart of the Wood in an elongated form, due to the obliquity of the cut in a central or nearly-central positionon the face of the panel, and when the panels are made of difierent or contrasting colors a very ornamental efiect will be produced by the group of panels or panel-pieces fortiling, Wainscoting, and ceilings, and for otherpurposes, and a smoother finish and higher polish can be given to the panels or blocks, as hereinb efore specified. As the diameter of the tree, log,

or limb, combined with the obliquity of its out, determines the length and width of the panel, there will be a great saving of stock,

too, and small timber that ordinarily is per-' mitted to go to Waste can be used to great advantage for making panels or blocks for various purposes: Veneer cut from the tree, limb, or log obliquely to the grain, as described, Will have a much handsomer appearance.

Having thus described my invention,I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patthe same operation, thereby avoiding the necessity of slabbing or barking the log prior to its reduction into blocks, substantially as set forth. LEWIS W. MURCH. Witnesses: CHAS. A. LUCKFIELD,

J OSEPH A. FERRIS. 

